Which is worse?

Now I don't know what to think!
For the nearly 4 1/2 years of my illness I have been plagued by rosy cheeks, curly/bouncy hair and my parents having been fortunate enough to be able to pay for orthodontic work on my teeth throughout my teens. Not to mention being merrily chubby. People were always saying "you look so well!" Which so often comes across as questioning the validity of my own experience of being in horrendous pain, barely able to pull myself out of bed, and having brain-fog so badly I'm missing whole weeks of my life.
But the last fortnight or so I have been getting a lot of comments along the lines "You really DON'T look well." And not just from the tiny handful of people who can see past the self-defensive mask of cheeriness. This is coming from all sorts of people. It is just such a shock. Sure, I'm not well. But I would think that this is no worse than most of the time, and in fact a damn sight better than various relapses I've had.
I just don't know what is going on, and the world feels a bit topsy-turvy.